The Trainer's Bond
Hydrophobia or
Licensing Procedures pt. 1
by Tremor3258
game continuity rules are in effect!
Pallet Town, like many of the built-up regions in the western areas on the Kanto continent, is basically a small village of a few hundred people. Due to the heavy Pokemon presence in the area, envorionmental considerations make build up difficult, and the western mountains and the forests to the north make large-scale commerce strenuous. For that matter, a large set of reefs plus seasonal storms makes it economically impossible to build a harbor. Thus, despite Pallet Town having a literally perfect position, by the sea no less, between the southern islands, Pokemon League headquarters and eastern major cities, trade goes through alternate routes, leaving Pallet Town a sleepy farm community, despite the fame it acquired after Ash Ketchum made Pokemon master. The fame had slowly faded after the next few years, returning the town to its apparently permanent small-time status, especially with Ash running around Indigo, and having possession of some of the strongest Pokemon based out of Kanto. The major change was that Pallet Town had upgraded to a full Pokemon Center, rather than private nursing.
Somewhat south of Pallet Town, Diana, an eleven year old girl, hobbled slowly towards the rough seas, supported by a walking stick held in her left hand. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and her olive skin was marred with series of white lines starting near her left ear and disappearing under her collar, as she wore a jacket and jeans to deal with the slight chill as autumn began to settle itself down around the area. Mentally she ticked off her position compared to the line experience had drawn to the maximum limit of Pokemon padding their way towards Pallet Town.
The girl stopped to rest for a moment and look out at the sea. It was surprisingly peaceful for today, and she could just make out a few water Pokemon trainers who had the Surf TM out training. She shuddered at the thought, clutching the cane a little tighter. "Right, no time to be spent on might-have-beens. I only got a few hours out, anyway. Bulbasaur, Tangela, Pidgey, I choose you!" The three Pokemon appeared in small clouds of smoke from the Poke balls that had been attached to her belt.
Diana smiled in satisfaction. As often repeated to little children, the wilds of the area could be dangerous with Pokemon lunging for food stores. A few years ago, her older sister, Athena, (her parents had been on a classical kick for names) in the midst of training her Pokemon up, had taken her little sister to the seashore during a training event. Professor Oak had later calculated the odds of a Tentacruel, fleeing capture by a trainer, wandering up hurt and confused, at about 30,000 to 1. That didn't make it any easier. Diana had been struck by one of the Tentacruel's poison-tipped tentacles in the midst of Athena trying to deal with it, and then dragged under water.
Athena had managed to capture the moderately powerful water/poison type after a long and desperate battle, but Diana had been hospitalized for a short time, and then physical therapy took a few months. The hospital had done a lot, but there was a limit to the repairs on physical scarring. The psychological scarring ran deeper, though. Since then, Diana couldn't stand to go near open water for any length of time, let along water Pokemon. Athena blamed herself and her lack of skills, and had headed off shortly thereafter to try and become a Master. Diana couldn't blame her for that, but her parents had taken Athena as abandoning her younger sister completely, and the rift between Athena and her parents had yet to be healed, so Diana had spent the last two years as an effective only child.
The only good thing that had come from it had been a present from Professor Oak. Diana smiled warmly at Bulbasaur, who was getting the worse edge of a tackle vs. gust battle from Pidgey. The good Professor was in position to be able to bend a few rules, and grant the invalidated Diana possession of a Pokemon a little earlier than the rules normally allowed. Bulbasaur had gone a long way toward encouraging Diana's recovery. The fact he was a grass Pokemon, and strong against water-types, did a bit for the psychological damage.
Diana had decided soon after the therapists had decided they had recovered as much as they could in the hospital and released her that she wanted to try and become a Master. She took a lot of long walks, though usually near town, and noticed Bulbasaur was the happiest when he got to stretch his legs away from the city and at least do some shadow-boxing. For that matter, the next time something attack her, Diana wanted to be able to depend on her own talents as a trainer for protection. The idea of being sheltered, immobile and confined, like she had been in the hospital wasn't pleasant.
Once she reached eleven, and got her actual qualifications as a trainer, she began training Bulbasaur intensively in preparation for the Gym Challenge. Her parents were worried about their daughter going out, of course, but they didn't want to say anything about the kind of rough terrain she'd have to travel over, in fears of hurting her recovery. Staying close to home, Diana had acquired a friendly male Pidgey and a female Tangela. She was still looking for good nicknames for them. Their levels weren't anything to write home about, Bulbasaur had just gotten leach seed, but it was a start.
She was going to leave at the end of the week, but until then, her parents were expecting her to help out on chores, but she had managed to get away for a few hours. Diana's lips quirked. The price to leave the house before the set departure date was that her late-model Pokegear was being held hostage until said departure date.
Diana stirred from her reverie to notice Tangela had wandered into the taller grass and vanished from view. Diana quickly pulled herself together enough to go after the grass Pokemon before she ran into an older sibling of some sort and got into trouble. Diana noticed that Bulbasaur was slowly getting driven to bits, as Pidgey was fully capable of spinning past the worse of the plantamal's tackles, especially with his sand attack. Diana called out, "Remember that leech seed move, Bulbasaur?" Pidgey squawked in dismay as Bulbasaur turned towards the tiny bird with an evil expression in its eye. The salvo of tiny seeds spat from the plant Pokemon's bulb, ensnaring Pidgey and taking away some of its movement advantage and equalizing their damage levels as the seed sucked stamina. Bulbasaur quickly retracted it after the flying Pokemon conceded defeat in their mock battle, well, this time.
Pidgey looked at his trainer in mild exasperation. While he was well cared for, and he was growing stronger, he worried for them. They had never gone into battle against other opponents before, and Diana couldn't coach both sides of a battle successfully. She usually stayed out of the way of mock battles and watched to get an idea of the capabilities of either side, as to not give an advantage. Pidgey slapped Bulbasaur lightly with a wing. He shouldn't have needed Diana's help for a move that obvious. Bulbasaur grumbled lightly in response: the two were old comrades in arms.
Diana cursed as the soft ground shifted below her slightly. Tangela wasn't the best trained Pokemon yet. She tended to get distracted by the other faint Tangela scents in this area and start to wander off. Plants tended to clump together. Tangela's wanderings wouldn't be a major problem, except the Pokemon had near perfect camouflage in tall grass. "Tangela: don't make me use the return command!" Diana threatened loudly. Tangela chittered in amusement. "Right, don't make threats you aren't planning to back up," muttered Diana, but the Pokemon had made an error: her laughter gave her position away.
Spotting the more bluish spot in the increasingly tan grass this time of year, Diana rose her cane over her head and brought it down on Tangela's body with a slow thud. As far as Diana had been able to tell, Tangela's body was mainly shock-absorbing vines, and only the grass Pokemon's pride was injured. Diana quickly mock-tackled the Pokemon.
The timing of such proved to be a bad thing. The ground in the area was rocked by an explosion. Pidgey, without needing a word, leapt into the air, quickly squawking down what he saw. Diana didn't need it, as she spotted a large plume of smoke coming from near the water. It was already several hundred feet high and Diana could tell it was about thirty feet across at the base. "Pidgey, Bulbasaur, go down there and see if anyone was hurt!" Diana quickly commanded. The two Pokemon took off running. Tangela stuck close, a bit frightened.
Diana was worried too. There wasn't anything over there that should explode like that, and she had been watching the area only a few moments beforehand. For that matter, if there was something big and nasty down there, her Pokemon, who could do a decent job as a rescue crew, would be hard pressed to fight off anything. They were too young, and had really only begun her training. That was one reason Diana had kept Tangela with her. She wasn't quite tamed yet, and Diana though having someone in fullback position could help. Besides: Tangela was barely faster than Diana in this terrain.
The two made their way to the seashore in a few minutes. Diana paused at the edge of the sand and peered over the scene. The carbonized remnants of what had once been a small boat still sputtered in the middle of a small crater, set just below the sandy bluffs over-looking the beach. Judging by the furrow leading to the crater, Diana assumed the boat had been forced onto shore and rammed the center. Diana noticed her Pokemon standing about twenty meters back from the crater, wary of the flames, and crouched so that they faced the flames warily.
Diana shuddered a bit at the idea of what had happened to the pilots, and she started picking her way along the edge so that she could ask her Pokemon is they had sensed anything escape. Tangela walked along beside her, looking out for danger, as she was aware of her mistress's trembling, and the remaining sparks set Tangela's vines on edge.
Diana reached the bluff above two of her Pokemon in a few minutes, and waved to them. The Pokemon barely gave her a second glance, keeping focused on the flames. Tangela eased the young trainer's confusion by gesturing with a foot at the cliff. Dropping her cane down, Diana kneeled down and peered over the bluff edge curiously, before screaming in terror, and trying to jump back before her left leg gave out, leaving her sprawled out helpless.
"Oh, they are trained Pokemon. I thought it was strange that a Pidgey and a grass Pokemon would get along so well, but with Professor Oak's love of Bulbasaurs, who knows," said a male voice down the bluff. He sounded as if he was in a slight amount of pain. "I apologize for the problem with Snapdragon here, but relax, she won't hurt anyone."
"That's what you think," Diana muttered to herself, her breathing starting to calm down. Pidgey and Bulbasaur hadn't been staring at the fire, they had been staring at the injured Gyarados lying under the bluff. The shape of the cliff-face had obscured the coiled water Pokemon until Diana had peeked down to be literally face-to-face with a creature of nightmares.
"I would like to thank you for sending your Pokemon to help, and getting us above the water line. I waited a little too long to jump, and I misjudged the reef depth around her and injured my leg. Snapdragon didn't do too well against the Tentacools that live in this area. She's just up from Magikarp. We wouldn't have made it without help. My thanks," continued the male voice. Diana, meanwhile, concentrated on getting upright, glaring at her treacherous leg for giving out like that, and she walked back over to the side of bluff. Mentally braced, the sight of seeing the Pokemon only sent mild waves of revulsion through her, and she winced in rapport at the lines stitched into the side. She knew firsthand what the results of a squid's poison sting looked like, and judging by the muscle spasms around the wound, the Gyarados had been poisoned.
Diana felt a pang of worry for the Gyarados at that. If the trainer was in that bad shape, the Gyarados would probably haven't had a chance to be cured of poison, and the idea of just letting the poison burn itself out. "Tangela, can your wrap attack get me down there?" The squat Pokemon nodded once in agreement, and Diana quickly pulled an Antidote from a side pocket, as Tangela loosened itself, settings its vines into a loose swing. Diana carefully swung down, with Pidgey flying around to help keep things stable, and Bulbasaur as an emergency pillow.
Diana couldn't quite see the man, since she hadn't wanted to bother with trying to get into the sling and turn around, and could only see the rather rough ocean. Diana's eyes narrowed. She couldn't see the water Pokemon trainers out there now. Diana thought, Why do I get the feeling there's something everyone but me knows?
The male voice, still sounding a bit pained, continued, "You definitely have some talents child, though one ice Pokemon could walk over the team I've seen so far," the man advised, "My name's Robert. Call me Bob, and pay no attention to the rambling coming from my mouth. It's keeping me awake."
Diana smiled slightly as she reached ground level. Bracing herself, she started to turn around as Tangela retracted herself and was picked up by Pidgey. Pidgey, obviously, didn't have access to a fly HM yet, and so the main thing Pidgey did was help cushion Tangela's landing, though Tangela still rolled like a tumbleweed when Pidgey released the grass Pokemon. Antidote in hand, the young trainer turned around.
Bob yelled in panic once he saw Diana in profile.. Diana's eyes narrowed in hurt, and she shifted back around, thinking he had seen the scars. Most people didn't pay them any mind anymore in Pallet Town, but it was painful enough when people's eyes just widened in sympathy.
Bob, though, was trying to get to his feet in raw panic, but he couldn't keep his legs under him. Diana noticed a bloody gash was traced along one of his thighs, probably from the reefs, and the teenager had started to babble in panic, "Athena! I don't believe it! I got away from you; you lost!" Diana whirled in response to the statement, luckily remembering to be careful with her balance. Bob relaxed as she stepped forward, out of the light. "Oh good, you're not her. You're much shorter."
Diana smiled in response, "You're the first person to make that comparison in a few years," she laughed lightly and tossed over an Antidote. "I'd use that if I were you. I recognize the results of poisoning." Diana gestured at Snapdragon. Bob blinked in confusion and looked at his injured leg. Diana shook her head, "I really can't do it. You know about the bond trains have with Pokemon that allows cohesion in battle?" Bob nodded. The bond wasn't very well understood, but people who had it made better trainers as their Pokemon would be willing to give more. Several of the gym badges had been designed to reinforce those, allowing trainers to more easily communicate with high-level Pokemon, with stronger wills. Diana continued, "Well, when it comes to water-types, I don't have one. Even in that condition, your Gyarados will treat me like a rival competing for the same space. Bulbasaur, can you help Bob over please? Spit out a leech seed."
Bulbasaur moved into position, and launched a leech seed. The vines sprouted tightened themselves sufficiently to help bind the wound. Bob tested it, and found the makeshift bandaging serviceable. He quickly walked over and fed Gyarados the antidote, whose trembling stopped as she was able to rest. Bob looked at the welts and winced, before digging out his Pokegear and grabbing some potion from it, "These are probably going to scar."
"It's very likely, yes," said Diana. Bob turned and got a good look at her for the first time, winced once and went back to work. Soon, the bleeding had at least stopped, and Bob called the Pokemon back to its Poke ball. Diana had been holding questions back as long as there was an injured Pokemon to deal with, but now had to ask, "You mentioned someone named Athena?"
Bob nodded absently, "Yes, she's a trainer I know. Very tough and determined. You look a lot like her. Especially with the scarring." Diana had been moving to help support the trainer, starting to hand over her walking stick, but dropped it in surprise, dropping the stick as well.
"What scarring? She didn't have any scarring when she left. Did she get hurt?" Diana demanded. Bob moaned in pain. The leech seed vines had snapped loose, as Bulbasaur hadn't been using them to drain and the plants had withered. Diana winced at the sight of the wound, and nodded to Bulbasaur, who reapplied the seed. Bob stood up painfully, and grabbed Diana before he fell down again. "Right, questions later. Pidgey, can you carry a note to Professor Oak for me?" Diana quickly wrote something, and tied it to Pidgey's leg. The tiny bird flapped off.
Bob had been peering over her shoulder, using her good side as support, and answered in a tired tone, "Hmm, no you can't be Athena. Her handwriting's a scrawl. That's practically calligraphy. Well, it looks like scarring. I think it's tattoos, because the skin isn't raised around them. I met Athena a year ago, and she just referred to them as her 'penance'. Why the interest? She hasn't completed the gym challenge yet. She is talented, but she's not especially well-known outside of a select group."
Diana explained simply, "She's my sister. We haven't heard from her for a few years. There was a training accident, and Athena and my parents don't speak together much. I'm kind of glad to know she's alive." Diana frowned, thinking back over the conversation in her mind, "She isn't with Team Rocket now, is she?" Bulbasaur growled at the name and Tangela chirped angrily.
Bob laughed out loud, "Oh please. She'd probably kill herself first. Actually, the last I saw of Athena was in Johto. She's wandering all over the place right now, looking for rare Pokemon. That, incidentally, is the reason I'm here. She and I together managed to liberate several rare low-level Pokemon from a Team Rocket base, and divided up the Poke balls without seeing what was inside. I suggested we farm them out to new trainers, but Athena wasn't too happy about letting something slip through her grasp, and challenged me to a battle. I won, but she was a bit impetuous in her timing, and the Rockets caught up. I managed to make my way to here, barely, and that's when you showed up. I think Athena is scattering the Pokemon and laying false trails right now in Johto. Frankly, it would have been the core of the new Rocket army, and it's lucky that Athena and I managed to stop them. Though your sister is not someone I want to cross, she's very honorable, and she'll hold herself to her promise until she can beat me."
Diana asked, "Why should I believe you?" Bulbasaur nodded in agreement. Bob grinned and pulled out his Pokegear, flipping through to an item. Diana blinked. It was something Pallet Town had become familiar with after Ash's win a few years back. "This can't be. This is a Pokemon Master certification! You beat the Elite Four?"
Bob nodded smugly, "Yes, I was waiting to show that off, since I don't seem to be doing to well as a trainer. Sadly, Snapdragon's good, but she's only just managed to evolve. And she was the only water Pokemon I had available at the time, since I was working on raising her. I've always wanted a Gyarados, but Snapdragon wasn't quite ready to take on the seas around here. And I couldn't go to a Pokemon Center and replace her because the Rockets may have had tracks in Johto continent Pokemon Centers. They're far stronger over there than Giovanni ever managed here."
Bob smiled, "I've always liked Kanto. Far more independent thinkers, and your cities are smaller and tied more loosely together. There's a lot more wilderness. That made it difficult for the Rockets to take over, and why one kid was able to topple them so easily." Diana swelled slightly with hometown pride.
"So, I was trying to get to Professor Oak, since he has the facilities to store them all,"
Bob continued, "But right now we REALLY need to get off the beach. I'm sure at least one of those swimmers was a Rocket, as the chance to take a high-level, Surf-equipped Pokemon heading from Cinnabar is too good to pass up. We're probably going to get company soon."
Diana offered, "Pidgey will get help from Pallet Town trainers. We don't have a gym, so most are fairly low level trainers who are just starting out, like me. Can we stop for a minute though? My side's on fire?" Bob agreed and looked over the girl critically, who seemed rung out and sweating, despite the cool weather.
"Now, I'm impressed with you're bond with the Pokemon, especially for one so young, but maybe you should consider taking a plane to Celadon and working in a gym. I'm not sure you've got the endurance for the job." Robert looked over the girl critically. Her clothing made it difficult to tell this time of year, but she didn't seem especially emaciated. Yet this tiny walk had exhausted her.
"Sorry, sir, but it's not exhaustion. I moved too fast, stretched the tissue. As long as I live, I'm NEVER teaching my Pokemon a poison attack," Diana repeated the vow she had made. Water Pokemon picked up on her fear of them and reacted badly, and Oak had tried to give her a water Pokemon originally to train to help get over it, but it hadn't wanted to come close to her in fear of hurting her. She had switched to water's weakness in response. While water Pokemon were useless because of events beyond her control, she wasn't willing to see other Pokemon end up like she did, and what control she did have meant she could avoid training poison techniques or Pokemon. It was better than blaming the Tentacruel irrationally, who Diana realized had probably been hurt and confused. She saved that for when it REALLY hurt.
"I can understand your reasoning. Still, that's a difficult vow to keep. Toxic is a really useful attack for a poison Pokemon to have," Bob's breath gushed out as he stepped wrong, "I should have gone into research after I was declared Master, but no, I had to start teaching young whippersnappers."
"You're what, 15?" Diana asked in amusement.
"Quiet when your elders are rambling, dear," Bob said. The grass Pokemon rolled their eyes.
Bob suddenly stopped, nearly pitching Diana forward when she didn't stop at the same time. Bulbasaur growled for his mistress's sake. Bob shushed the Pokemon absently, and somewhat to Bulbasaur's surprise, he complied. Now that's real talent, Diana thought in admiration. If he was a master, Diana could understand why her sister would be learning from him. She wondered what was going on. Lousy time to try and catch a Pokemon.
Then Diana heard it as well. It sounded like a helicopter was coming down with the distinctive sound of the blades slicing through the air. A black helicopter was soon visible, despite the dimming sunlight, by the reflections off its blade. The light also made the helicopter appear to be blood-stained, which wasn't helping Diana's mood any. Robert cursed, surprisingly fluently for one so young, and followed it up with a word he made sound like a curse, "Rockets!" The trainer quickly began patting his clothing down, and apparently found what he was looking for: a Poke ball. "Right, you hold onto this. It's the most valuable of the lot, and it'd be obvious if you were loaded down with Poke balls, so I want to make sure this one is safe for certain. You try and get out of the immediate area."
Diana looked at the helicopter critically, "There's probably more than one Rocket on board. I could keep them off you backs for you."
Bob shook his head, "Sorry, you look way too much like their alternate target. If they realize whose sister you are, they may try and make a hostage out of you. Go hide in the grass. Consider the Poke ball a present for saving my life." Seeing she still wasn't planning on moving, Bob tossed down a Poke ball. "Alakazam, use psychic to move them out of the way!" The spoon-wielding Pokemon, easily one of the most powerful non-legendary Pokemon in existence, unceremoniously heaved the trio into the air, and shoved them into a heap in the grass. Alakazam was well-trained, judging by the way their landing was feather-soft. To some others, it wasn't quite so soft.
"Sorry," Diana apologized to the Pidgey Bulbasaur had landed on. Pidgey squawked angrily and flapped out of the area before anything else would fall out of the sky on its head, which was a complete shift from the natural order of things, in its opinion. Luckily, only its pride was injured. Bulbasaurs weren't that hefty. Diana took this opportunity to look at the Poke ball, as if she could somehow see what was carried inside. If my parents let me have my Pokegear, I could scan the Poke ball, Diana thought, it must be something that could help out, even if it is low level.
Bulbasaur prodded the small sphere eagerly, and Diana hissed, "Yeah, I want to too, but you don't get to be a Pokemon Master if you make bad decisions." Bulbasaur grumbled and sat down. Tangela, however, was taking this opportunity to try and lead the two to the safety of the Tangela nests in the area. Diana knew that the moving grass would probably be picked up as Tangela tramped around. Diana quickly held up two Poke balls. "Sorry guys, but we don't have time for this! Return!" The two were licked by the red beams and transferred to the Poke balls' storage dimension.
"I'll say this for Goldenrod bases," muttered the pilot, "It does give us access to good equipment." The pilot had been following a tracer they had planted on Bob back quite a ways. The frantic reports over the emergency frequencies of a boat ramming onto shore had made them believe he may have been killed, but it was followed by even more frantic reports of a Gyarados in the area. The swimmers had quickly decided they had somewhere else they had to be, and also succeeded in slowing down rescue efforts a bit. The Rockets had planned to see if any Poke balls would be salvageable, but then the tracer had started moving again. And now, those brand-new, top of the line sensors had detected reports of Poke ball activity near the tracer.
"Ok, you three, get down there and grab him, and search the area for anyone else! You only have a few minutes. Remember: we're a twenty minute walk from a Pokemon menagerie, and if someone notices our helicopter, they'll be unleashed," said the sub-commander to his goons. The three saluted, one nearly knocking himself out the door. The sub-commander rolled his eyes. Typical idiot Rockets. The Rockets accepted everyone, and they got a lot of people who didn't want an honest living. The Rockets also believed in survival of the fittest, so the idiots got trimmed out quickly when it came time for promotions. That still meant the able Rockets had to command the addled ones.
The four quickly jumped down from the copter from several feet in the air, as the copter needed to find a clear spot to land. Bob shook his head, "Haven't they realized who they're going up against yet?" the Master asked rhetorically. "Alakazam, if you'd be so kind." Suddenly, the Rockets found that the laws of gravity had been temporarily annulled, as they hung suspended in the air. The copter pilot shot up, not wanting to suffer the same fate in a machine loaded with jet fuel.
The Rockets, to their credit, immediately tossed down a few Poke balls. The Rockets preferred immobilizing and draining attacks from poison Pokemon, but they kept a few normal types to deal with this sort of situations. Ratticates were fast and strong, a decent counter to psychic Pokemon, as they could match the foot speed and their powerful physical attacks were more than a match for the wimpy physiques of psychic-types. Considering the match wasn't quite under the rules yet, the four rushed forward. Alakazam had to drop his psychic hold to prevent himself from being shredded. The Rockets were now free to move.
Bob groaned inwardly even as he started to direct Alakazam against the four trainers. He figured he could win: he had four other high-levels as backup, including a Golem which was more than a match for the usual Rocket loadout. What worried him was that copter. He couldn't try and disable it with a battle raging, without the possibility of the copter crashing and contaminating the area with jet fuel.
Diana stayed hidden. She knew that all three of her Pokemon probably couldn't deal with a single Ratticate, yet. I hope Pidgey made it to town and got some help. Then she felt a tickling at the back of her mind. Diana thought frantically, Pidgey, whatever you do, don't come down right by me! No good. Pidgey could sense his master, and eagerly floated down, squawking the news. Diana jumped up to pull it down, and hissed at Pidgey to be quiet.
Too late, as the copter pilot noticed that the four were losing, and needed to set down in a moderately good location. The grassy field had the advantage of being relatively level, and near the signal the helicopter had detected. True, there would be wild Pokemon in the area, but when you fly the friendly skies, you have opportunities to pick up Pokemon from a lot of areas. Mind you, they don't have the training they should, with flight training and everything, the pilot thought to himself. He sighed. The Rockets were willing to offer a lot more pay for piloting than legal authorities, but he had heard the Rockets valued strong Pokemon, but they kept going on grandiose schemes that prevented their members from doing a lot of Pokemon raising.
Actually, it was a clever trick for the Rockets. The higher levels were those who had managed to cram in more training time, and thus they could keep the lower levels in line with greater power. And thus, the massive schemes kept the more foolish grunts distracted so that the higher levels could maintain their power. Few people ever realized the fact, and by the time Rockets did so, they were high up enough in the organization to ensure the scheme's continuance.
Diana tried to stay low as a dust cloud rose up due to the helicopter's landing. Diana couldn't see how Bob was doing, but considering how effortlessly the Alakazam had dealt with her, Diana assumed Bob was doing quite well. Diana wished she had her Pokegear. Most of her equipment was stored there, including the few Potions she had acquired. All she had carried were one or two Antidotes out to deal with the possibility of stumbling across angry Tangelas equipped with poison powder.
The pilot finished shutting down the plane and quickly stepped out, dropping a Poke ball casually. A Spearow flew out. "Troublemaker, see if you can spot anything suspicious from the air, will you?"
Diana knew they were in trouble, and doubted they would be able to even attack if Spearow managed to find them. "Let's save them the trouble, Pidgey! Sand attack!" Pidgey flapped its wings at ground level, quickly concealing the rather mean-looking bird and its trainer in a cloud of sand. Spearow and the pilot emerged, coughing and looking a bit ticked. Spearow reached over for a peck, but Pidgey was used to head on attacks, and quickly dodged, before applying its own quick attack.
"Troublemaker can't get any hits in like this, and he's going to be worn down. Return!" the pilot called after a minute, "I'm impressed little girl. It's obvious you were put here to slow us down. Frankly, I'm wondering if you have a Spearow, the way you're torn up." I'll give the guy that much, he can turn what's usually an insult into a compliment, thought Diana.
"So, do you have anything else, or can I trash your copter now?" asked Diana hopefully. Her other two Pokemon were useless against flying types, and she was glad she had managed to maneuver Pidgey to combat a Pokemon that, level for level, was more than an even matchup. The pilot quickly tossed down another Poke ball.
"Sargasso! I choose you!" A Tentacool shot forth, looking a bit limp on dry land. Diana backup up a few steps and seemed to quiver. The pilot smiled, "Nothing against that huh? Give up now, and I won't have it attack you."
Diana's eyes burned in fury, "Not this time! I'm ready for you Pidgey return! Bulbasaur, I choose you!" The pilot gulped. Tentacool was partly protected against grass, but then, Bulbasaur was partly protected against poison by its own makeup. And for that matter, the two seemed really angry. If only I had a chance to pick up a blizzard TM somewhere thought the pilot. Bulbasaur quickly spat out a leech seed. Tentacool responded by wrapping the Pokemon with its tentacles, but Bulbasaur's stamina was kept high by the leech seed, while Tentacool was gradually drained.
"That's right Bulbasaur! Kick that slimy thing's butt!" Diana cheered on. She tried to ignore the loud voice telling her she was enjoying this too much for the time being. Gradually, Tentacool's many tresses slackened enough to allow Bulbasaur to ram the jellyfish with its body. The Tentacool started to scamper away, terrified even as more of its energy was sucked away.
The pilot quickly caught it up in a Poke ball, "I really wish I had the time to train these things. Still, time for my decent Pokemon! Terrier, go!" The dog Pokemon howled as it was released. Diana quickly recalled Bulbasaur.
Let's see: Growlithe's are fast, tough, and have fire-based attacks. Judging by that Growlithe's coat and build, it's definitely in great shape. Bulbasaur could get maybe one hit in before he lost, and the leech seed would mean practically nothing in the long run against my neophytes. Diana was aware of the fact she was a bit of a bully in these situations, as proved against Tentacool, who had been overmatched. Looking at her opponent, there was no trace of that. He was calmly prepared to do his job, and she envied that. Still, she couldn't make out what was going on with Bob, but Diana couldn't let him be jumped from behind.
"I'm really sorry, but I don't see anything else I can do. I'll call you back if it's an obvious mismatch, but I don't have anything that can stand against a Growlithe.," she whispered, before tossing the mystery Poke ball out with a soft underhand grip. The Poke ball snapped open, and a rush of air displacement displayed the new Pokemon. It was blue, several feet long, and resembled a snake with a finned head. The pilot stared at in shock, and Diana joined in.
"Dratini!" said the new Pokemon cheerfully. One of the super-rare dragon types, it seemed glad to be able to stretch. Terrier looked at the dragon quizzically. It obviously wasn't used to seeing this sort of opponent. Dratini looked at the Rocket a bit contemptuously, and then nodded confidently to Diana. It would fight. "You wouldn't happen to have a list of your attacks on you somewhere, would you?" Diana asked weakly. Dratini shook her head and quickly spoke, doing some pantomiming as well, but it fell to Diana like it was coming through a slightly smoky piece of glass. She could ALMOST get what was being said, and exactness counted a lot for these situations. Dratini curled up, and then moved straight up, and then acted like it was spitting something up.
"Okay, you're young. Let's see, attacks based on those characteristics..." while Diana mused, Growlithe attacked with his flamethrower. Dratini curled up and screeched as the flames passed. Diana knew dragons were strong against fire, but this wasn't a fight in this situation. "I'm glad you were willing to help out, but I can't DO anything here." Well, it's your own fault for getting your sick kicks in earlier, whispered something in her ear. Yeah, I know, can we please worry about living long enough for said guilt trip? Diana thought at her conscience. Dratini stared at Diana for a moment and shook her (where did that come from? Diana wondered) head (well, top portion of body, but you get the idea). Dratini stared at Growlithe for a moment. The two locked gazes, and Growlithe blinked, once.
It was all the opportunity Dratini needed to coil around Growlithe. Dratinis, even baby Dratini have excellent speed. The pilot recalled it with a grimace, and seemed ready to throw out another Pokemon, but three goons and one goon commander impacting the ground around him stopped him. Incredulously, the two combatants looked over to see Bob standing confidently with Kadabra by his side. "Well, you played by the rules in spite of yourself," said the pilot in admiration, pulling out a forfeit and tossing it over. "I saw that look in your eyes. If you had a gun in your hands at that point, you might have decided to shoot Tentacool."
Diana stuttered, "I don't think I'm like that."
"Not yet, anyway," said the pilot, "Word of advice kid: The past holds you, and you can learn from it, but you can't let it bind you. You know what your fears are, or you probably would have exhausted yourself against Tentacool futilely. Keep your head, and you'll do fine." With that, the pilot grabbed the other four and tossed them in, putting the copter up to full power. Diana just stood there, feeling drained.
With a mighty roar, the copter took off, quickly disappearing into the darkening night. Bob strode over as Diana wordlessly recalled Dratini, evidently a bit shaken by something. Bob couldn't blame her. The first battle was tough, especially the shock of that specially set up baby Dratini. "That was very good work, Diana. Considering the levels of the Pokemon involved, I couldn't have done better," Bob praised, clapping her on Diana's good shoulder.
Diana didn't answer, she simply fell, unresisting from the slight impact, and slumped on the ground, completely spent.
To be continued...
Author's note
Been a while since I've done Pokemon fanfiction (I wrote LOT three years ago, but you probably will never see it unless it goes through major editing, it wasn't very good). However, the Pokemon Adventure manga went a long way to rekindle my interest in the genre. Thus, I'll be using game continuity, as mentioned previously, with a few elements (how attacks are set, etc.) from the show. No Team Rocket giant Pikachu-fodder-of-the-week.
The sharp-eyed Pokemon trainer can guess what move Dratini (probably level 7-8, to match the others) is fitted with that matches the third pantomime. It'll show up next chapter or two.
Next time: Recovery, a new Rival, and the Journey Begins (maybe)